Red Tears
by Observant WriterGirl
Summary: - This story begins after episode 4x06 - Elena is still broken after the break-up with Stefan, but she is trying to get over him. Maybe Damon can help with that? Please cut me some slack - I am a Danish writer, and this is my first english fanfiction.
1. I'm sorry

Elena Gilbert trudged quietly into the Salvatore living room, seeing Damon Salvatore's back in front of the fireplace with a glass of scotch. She wasn't sure if he hadn't heard her, or just waited for her to say something. "Hi," she said, a tad more feeble than she was hoping. To be honest, she had become extremely fragile after the break-up between her and Stefan Salvatore, even though she was confident that it was better that way. It wasn't fair for him, the constant irritation over the love Damon and Elena shared.

"Hi," Damon replied, turning around and looking at Elena with sympathy and pain dancing in his eyes. Stefan must had told him. "He's sorry," he continued, and looked away. Why wouldn't he look her in the eye? Was he nervous, and a bit confused, just like her? "I know," she answered, nodding slightly. _I know_. The exact same words she had given Stefan, when he said he couldn't be with her. And now, only a day after, she was saying them to Damon. It was wrong. How she spontaneously shifted Salvatore when she felt like it. She knew that it wasn't right, and she hated herself for it, but she couldn't help it. She and him broke up for a reason; Damon. She recalled how she sat there with Stefan. So close, but a thousand miles apart in thought. "_I'm_ sorry." He said and looked up, right in her eyes. Elena was surprised, and he could see it in her face. Was it shyness he saw? Nervousness?

"Don't be."

"Why not?"

"Because this is isn't your problem."

Elena didn't mean to be rude, but it almost sounded like she was angry with him. They were just standing there for a moment, both surprised over how she snapped at him. She immediately looked down, and hoped that Damon would understand. Damon nodded and walked over to the beautiful girl with the crisp, brown eyes, he always longed to look into. "Don't worry," he said, and placed his left hand on her shoulder. Elena gazed at him, pain and sorrow filling her eyes with tears. She loved Stefan with all of her heart, and she needed to grieve. She couldn't just push him away like that. Damon knew that, he respected that, but he was still frustrated. There was nothing he wanted more then to just grab Elena and kiss her. Hold her, make the tears go away, make her happy again. But he did the exact opposite; he walked away. None of them could stand the pain that lingered in the room.


	2. I'm not gonna let you die

Damon sat down in the red couch, and waited. He had texted Elena and Stefan, and he wouldn't do that if it wasn't important. He was aware of the fact, that the two broken lovebirds did not want to talk each other right now, but he really didn't care. Not today.

Stefan slammed the door open, and looked distraught at his brother. _Come quick. We have a serious problem_, that was the text he received. Was someone dead? Elena? Jeremy? "What's wrong?" he asked, but Damon didn't have time to answer him. "What's…" Elena ran in, and was about to ask the exact same question as Stefan had asked, but she couldn't finish it. She was too surprised, seeing Stefan's face.

Damon sighed and stood up, looking at the two people he loved the most. He wasn't thinking much about loving someone in that second, though. "Why don't we skip the romantic-reunion-scene, please?" Stefan and Elena turned their heads, both frowning. "What are we doing here?" Elena asked, taking a step towards Damon, which also meant a step away from Stefan. There was no way she could talk to him right now. What was Damon thinking, gathering the three of them like that? "You need to get out of town, Elena," he said.

"Wait, why?" Stefan had no idea why his ex-girlfriend suddenly had to disappear. Although they weren't together, it would still be difficult to live without her. He wondered if Elena ever thought about him. Missed him, like he missed her. Did he regret breaking up with her? Yes, definitely. But it was the right thing to do. "Klaus is after you," Damon said, looking at Elena. She sat down on the couch and starred confused at the painting that was hanging on the wall right in front of her. "No, no he's not," Stefan said. You could see that he was pondering whether to believe it or not. "If Klaus wanted to kill her, he would have done it by now." Damon sat down next to Elena, and smiled annoyed to Stefan. Of course he had thought the same thing a thousand times, but there was more to the story. He was just generally annoyed by his brother, even though he would take a bullet for him. That was the joy of siblings. "He doesn't want to kill her. He wants her to join him and Rebekah."

Elena's first thought was disgust. She could barely stand Klaus, and certainly not Rebekah. She was the one who killed her! "No way!" she cried. "Klaus hates me, not to mention that blond girl."

"Then it's a set-up, but Klaus showed up and practically claimed you last night."

"I'm not leaving because of _Klaus_."

"Well, too bad, 'cause I'm not gonna let you _die._"

"_Oh, come on Damon, she can make her own decisions."_

They looked up, both surprised, but with completely different reactions after that. Elena let out a shy smile, so only Stefan could see, like a "thank you". No matter what, Stefan would let her be her. Let her be free. Damon scowled at him, hating the fact that Elena loved him. How could he say that? Why didn't he care if she got killed? She needed to be safe! "So now you want to come to her rescue?" Damon snapped. They were all quiet for a while, but then Elena rose. "Klaus has never stopped me before; he's not going to do it now."


	3. Come inside

Elena opened the refrigerator and searched for a beer. Or something with a lot of caffeine in it. She couldn't sleep last night, she was staying up, thinking about what Damon had told her. How could that be possibly? What was it that Klaus really wanted to do with her? Or do to her? Maybe kidnap her and torture her to the end of time. She wasn't sure.

Her head was filled with images of Stefan, - Stefan seeing Elena enter the house. Stefan defending Elena. Stefan's eyes. Stefan's mouth. - which wasn't a surprise. She tried, she begged herself, to fall in love with Damon, so all this Stefan-thinking could just stop, but everything seemed to go uphill lately. After a lot of deliberation, she decided to stay in Mystic Falls. If Klaus was going to attack her, she was ready. She could almost always be seen with Damon, so she was safe; speaking of, she was just about to head out. Hoping to see Stefan, not Damon. But that was obviously not going to happen.

"Elena, um, come inside." Stefan tried not to be affected by the awkwardness between the two of them, but it was difficult. "Thanks," Elena mumbled, and took a step inside. One part of her was bubbling with excitement over the boy she was not supposed to still be in love with, and the other with guilt. "Damon will be back soon. He was jus stopping by the hospital to get some more bloodbags." Elena looked up, for a second surprised, because she was so buried in her thoughts. "It's fine, I wasn't looking for Damon anyway," she said, and immediately regretted that she had said that out loud. Stefan tilted his head and looked slightly confused. "Oh," he said lightly. "Yeah, um," – Elena knew that this would be extremely awkward – "I just thought, that before we all load our guns and fight Klaus, we should talk things through." Stefan's expression changed, and he quickly ran his fingers through his hair. "You're right."

They were both sitting down next to each other, ready to talk, but none of them said anything. There was nothing to say, nothing that they didn't know already. Although, Stefan didn't know if Elena had any idea how much he missed her. Just thinking about the fact that she and Damon maybe already had kissed and were together, made him sad. It was not suppose to turn out like this. They were supposed to stay together – Forever. Suddenly, he heard Elena struggling with breathing, and they looked deeply in each others eyes. Her eyes were filled with tears, and they were close to float over the edge, and run down her cheeks.

Elena was embarrassed. She wasn't normally like this, she wasn't weak. She just couldn't hold the pain in anymore. She loved Stefan, he loved her. Why wasn't that enough? Because Damon came in and ruined everything. He complicated her life, but also made it better. The best and the worst. Oh well, the best… Stefan was the best. Right? If she wasn't a vampire, she probably would have blushed. But she didn't, she didn't say anything. Stefan lifted his left hand, carefully removing a tiny tear that was now running down her face. She did not even have time to think about kissing him, before his lips touched hers.


End file.
